We are a cross-industry, global professional women's network committed to the success and economic engagement of women. Our community is made up of successful, motivated and passionate professional women with one common believe - that investing in themselves and in other women is good business. We provide our members opportunities to connect online and through in-person networking events, to learn through our on-demand educational webinars and invest their time and experience in other women. Learn more: www.ellevatenetwork.com

LinkedIn: Busting 8 Damaging Myths About What It Can Do For Your Career

As a career and executive coach, speaker and recruitment consultant, I use LinkedIn (LI) extensively each day, and I truly enjoy it. I’ve found that building my network to over 1,000 direct contacts (accessing 10 million+ indirect contacts) has been well worth the two years of time and energy. I’m a big fan of LI – and truly appreciate the power of the tool and all the opportunities, gigs, partnerships, insights, information and support that have come my way from it.

I like LinkedIn so much that I often refer to it as the “great cocktail party in the sky.”

The analogy of the cocktail party truly fits. LinkedIn has the following aspects in common with an awesome cocktail party:

You get the chance to connect with like-minded people who you may otherwise never have had the chance to meet

By investing just a bit of time each day, you can learn a great deal that’s of interest and use

It’s a blast to connect to people that you admire from afar, and who can teach you vital things about how to be more of what you want to be

You can determine in an instant if you want to invest any more time and energy in getting to know new folks you see

Socializing beyond your limited sphere helps you build a powerful community that supports and enriches

You can add great diversity to your pool of colleagues and peers by branching out and connecting with new people across the country and globally

Meeting new people who are doing amazing and inspiring things in this world is exhilarating

But after two years of using LinkedIn for several hours each day, and after counseling others on how to build their personal brand on LinkedIn for professional advantage, I’m witnessing some negative effects of the misguided notions people have gleaned about what LinkedIn can do for them.

I’d like to share what I’ve observed to be the Top 8 Myths about LinkedIn as a professional tool, and offer some straight talk about what you can expect it to do for you.

Here are the Top 8 Myths we need to bust:

Myth #1: LinkedIn will get me a job

Nothing is going to “get you a job” but you. Yes, you can search new job openings in your area, and discover who posted the job, and connect with these folks. You can find people who work at companies posting jobs, check them out, and ask their help to introduce you. But these steps aren’t going to land you a job. You must still do the rigorous internal and external work of knowing what you’re great at, communicating your talents, finding strong-fitting positions, then get on the radar of the hiring manager or recruiters involved, and present yourself as a highly qualified and desirable candidate.

Myth #2: LinkedIn will replace recruiters

There’s a growing fear out there that LinkedIn will replace recruiters as conduits for connecting talented candidates to leading employers. It’s just not so. There’s an important personal dimension to recruiting that a tool such as LinkedIn simply can’t provide. From critically sifting through hundreds of resumes, to understanding the components of true “fit” for the hiring company, to personally interviewing and filtering candidates, and doing the extensive legwork of communicating “fit” to both employer and candidate — recruiting is a labor-intensive job that requires expert, personalized skill and attention. Again, LI is a powerful tool that certainly has changed the recruiting landscape, but recruiters remain vitally important in the process.

Myth #3: There’s no need to fully flesh out my profile – a brief line or two is fine

OK, this one makes me nuts. Here’s this vastly powerful free networking tool that allows you to tell the world who you are as a professional – what you stand for, how you’re different from all the rest, what you’re passionate about, and how you’ve contributed in the workforce. And yet thousands of folks simply don’t spend any time to articulate who they are, or present themselves in a compelling, engaging manner. As a recruiter, when I view a poorly executed profile, I see a lack of interest in promoting yourself that speaks volumes about how committed and excited you are in your professional endeavors overall.

Myth #4: Because I have over 100 (or 1000) connections, new opportunities will come easily to me

As in everything in life, quality matters over quantity. If you have scores of folks in your community who have nothing to do with anything you care about (or who aren’t interested in what you’re doing), then your connections will not generate productive or beneficial results for you.

Myth #5: When folks accept my LI invitation, they want to partner with me or connect more deeply

I’ve learned this the hard way in my recruiting work — just because people accept your invitation to connect, doesn’t mean they care about being in connection with you in any deeper way. It may simply mean that they saw your network as something advantageous to THEM, and they linked in for their own professional gain. Connections are interesting as far as they go – but it’s you who must make something positive of them.

Myth #6: LinkedIn is the best professional networking tool for all businesses or careers

LinkedIn is not the best tool for all businesses, jobs and careers alike. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be more powerful and effective, and reach more of your target audience. Know your audience and their tastes and behaviors, and select the best tool to connect with your prospective clients, colleagues and partners.

Myth #7: The more updates I post the better

Again, quality reigns supreme here. Choose carefully what you put out there in the world, and be respectful of the time and energy of those who read your updates. Make sure what you share performs at least one of these important functions: 1) informs, 2) entertains, 3) enlivens, 4) supports others, and/or 5) adds value.

Myth #8: Being highly connected on LinkedIn is a sign of professional success

Having hundreds (or thousands) of connections does not necessarily equate to financial success, business prowess or entrepreneurial acumen. It means only that the user has spent time and energy to build his/her network, and that others have felt it of some value to mutually connect. Don’t mistake volumes of connections with professional credibility or success.

* * * * * *

In the end, while the LinkedIn “cocktail party in the sky” has had a dramatic impact on how we connect and engage with each other professionally, it’s not able, on its own, to bring your career to the level of success, fulfillment and reward you want.

LinkedIn is only a tool, and is only as effective, engaging, and productive as the user behind it.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Being “found” is only half way there; the individual also needs to make it easy to be contacted. I can’t tell you how many times I see “looking for a new opportunity” then have to send inmail (or requires one to know their email address) in order to connect.

Great article….I myself love Linkedin and spend a lot of time on the platform…and I have read so many articles describing LinkedIn as a good tool for job hunting and also tried a lot of them, after using LinkedIn for a long time I have realised its potential and I agree on all your points, LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool and should be used effectively to prosper your network , but it is not a tool which will get you job or business, how you leverage benefits from your network is totally dependent of your quality and capability and that’s what will matter for anyone’s success

What nonsense. Of course the rules of formalised presentation interests of the placement process always apply, even on LinkedIn. But your article completely misses out the extra dimension of informality and intutive judgement and showing up the ‘true character’ that are all possible with the interactive and freewheeling and open communications structure of LinkedIn. As also the possible experimentation of response levels to different types of profiles from the same person. You are of the type who look on ‘social media’ as a gathering around the watercooler and would discount all frivolities and personal level interaction as not essential to the formalised procedural level of placement process. Who the hell allowed you to write on linkedin and why did anyone bother to link up your article on that same website ? Probably a few contacts by the side of the watercooler or at more informal places of mutual interest.

I agree that quality over quantity is extremely important when networking, especially on LinkedIn.

Thank you for also encouraging us as readers to make sure our profiles are flushed out–that has been one of my frustrations when re-connecting with old and new colleagues, and sometimes determines whether or not I will accept someone’s invitation, even if I knew them in the past.

Have you noticed any trends in the way men and women use LinkedIn?

One question that may be helpful as people choose which connections to link to is: “What’s the purpose or my intention for ___?”

If it does not fit into your short or long term goals or interests, then how efficient and how productive are you being with your time?

I will look for you on the social media sites–there seems to be a lot of overlap in our interests. Thanks Kathy!